Progressive Business Publications

Review: I keep receiving invoices from this business stating that we have ordered some sort of newsletter. We have never authorized this and have no intention of paying.Desired Settlement: The company should stop sending invoices to businesses who have never ordered their product. This is clearly a deceptive practice to try to sneak an illegitimate invoice through the cracks.

Business

Response:

August 21, 2014Dear [redacted] :Thank you for your email of 8/20/14 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 8/15/14. After review of our detailed electronic records we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address, asking for the month and day of the person's birth date and asking for the person’s email or fax number so we can send written confirmation of the order within 24 hours. This serves to encourage contact with us if there are any mistakes or changes that need to be made.Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that [redacted], H/R Mgr., placed an order on 2/25/14 for our What’s Working In Human Resources publication. We were provided with birth date information as [redacted], as well as an email address. Within 24 hours of the discussion, we sent a confirmation letter that clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions as ked, cancellation policy. Our computers show that the confirmation went through without any problems.The birth date information is obtained, in part, to verify the Conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same Computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a 5-month period of time.Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows on this complaint. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests.With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return it to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry’s general custom.As a courtesy we cancelled this account on 8/20/14 as requested. There is no money due or owing on the account.We initiated a request on the same day that the name, address and telephone number be removed from our computer files. This action takes approximately 30-days to process. In business we hesitate to say the company will never receive another mailing from us. If any company information changes our computers may not recognize it and something may go out. If that should happen, simply call us and we will remove that version, too.Please know that we do business regularly with thousands of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and our excellent customer service.All of our contact information is in our newsletter and it contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour /7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.Feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at [redacted]Thank you.Cordially Yours,Sylvia N. Dir. Of Subscriber Services

Review: Progressive Business Publications called to offer a newsletter called Environmental Compliance Alert for free for 30 days. Then if not interested were to send back with a cancelation notice. We never recieved a newsletter of any sort. Progressive Business Publications had [redacted] Inc. call to state we were past due on our payment of $299 and if not payed would report it to the Credit Bureau and would hurt my personal credit if unpaid. We never recieved an invoice either. So under panic I payed it due to I have good credit and would not want it ruined by some type of scam as this.Desired Settlement: To have Progressive Business Publications refund the $299 to my credit card and not to call or mail anything to us again in the future.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com 1880 J.F.K. Blvd Phila, PA 19103

RE: COMPLAINT LETTER/FILE #[redacted]

Dear [redacted]:

Thank you for your letter of 7/22/13 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 7/17/13. After review of our detailed electronic records, we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.

Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address, asking for the month and day of the person's birth date and asking for the person's email address or fax so we can send written confirmation of the order within 24 hours, as well as to encourage contact with us if there are any mistakes or changes that need to be made.

Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that **. [redacted], Facility/Prop Mgr, placed an order on 12/11/12 for our Environmental Compliance Alert publication. He provided us with a birth date of 11/4, as well as an email address. Within 24 hours of the discussion, we sent a confirmation letter that clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked, cancellation policy. Our electronic records show that the confirmation letter went through without any problems.

The birth date information is obtained, in part, to verify the conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a 5-month period of time.

Thus the goods that were ordered by **. [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows in this complaint. This computer tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests. It does not show that we ever received a cancellation on this account or mail returned as "undeliverable". If we had we would have cancelled the account immediately.

With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return it to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry's general custom.

However, if neither paid nor cancelled after 5 months, 2 warning notices plus an additional 30-day wait period the account may be turned over for collection, That is what happened in this instance. As a courtesy we contacted the collection agency on 7/17/13 and they advised us that they have received payment in full on 7/17/13 via credit card ($299.00) for the newsletters. They have marked this account "Settled Satisfactorily" and they have reinstated the account so that he will get the remaining newsletters of the 1-year subscription. Once it expires there will be no further issues, invoices or renewals sent. A "do not renew" was placed on the account. There will be no ramifications due to this account being turned over for collection and there is no money due or owing on this account.

We have initiated a request on the same day that the name, address and telephone number be removed from our computer files. This action takes approximately 30-days to process after the expiration date. In business we hesitate to say the company will never receive another mailing from us. If any company information changes our computers may not recognize it and something may go out. If that should happen, simply call us and we will remove that version, too.

While researching this complaint we did find that this company has done business with us in the past and is aware of our cancellation policy. We found many, many trial subscriptions have been accepted before; 3-paid in full accounts and others cancelled as we instructed.

Please know that we do business regularly with many tens of thousands of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and excellent customer service.

All of our contact information is in the newsletter. It contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour/7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscrbers.

Feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at ###-###-####.

Thank you.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

As I stated to the representative who called me, after receiving the conformation email stating the order I responded to the email by sending directly back to the sender please cancel the order that I did not want to follow threw it. This was done on the same day as the conformation email was sent to me. I assumed after sending my response that the issue was handled since I did not receive any invoices or newsletters as stated. I did receive emails with newsletter information on it but I marked the first few as SPAM and my computer email deleted them automatically after that since I did not receive any further emails. The fact that I didn't receive a newsletter or invoice I figured this matter was solved. If they didn't receive a payment why didn't they try calling after the second time of not receiving a payment? They called the first time to get our business, why not a follow up on missed payment? This is not the first time this company has done this since you can find previous cases on the web where they scammed other companies into paying for newsletters that they didn't receive. This is why I sent a cancelation email in the first place, because I researched the company and found several complaints to the Revdex.com about false orders or billings for nonexistent newsletters. I would also would like a copy of the phone recording too that they mention for my own records which I see shouldn't be a problem.

Review: We received an invoice from this business this week for publications we did not order, receive, nor want. They have sent us a bill for $249. They said they spoke to me but I do not remember ever talking to them. Even if I did talk to them, we did not receive anything from them. We do not even know what kind of publication they supposedly sent us. There is no phone number for us to call and dispute. We are sending a cancellation back but we have had this sort of thing once before and they acted like they didn't get it so I do not want to go through that again.Desired Settlement: I want them to waive any charges they think we owe and cancel services.

Business

Response:

August 14, 2014Dear [redacted]:Thank you for your email of 8/13/14 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 8/6/14. After review of our detailed electronic records we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.Please note that our primary method by which we secure Orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address, asking for the month and day of the person's birth date and asking for the person’s email or fax number so we can send written confirmation of the order within 24 hours. This serves to encourage contact with us if there are any mistakes or changes that need to be made.Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that [redacted], Board Secty, placed an order on 7/8/14 for our Nonprofit Board Report publication. We were provided with birth date information as 7/30, as well as an email address. Within 24 hours of the discussion, we sent a confirmation letter that clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked, cancellation policy. Our computers show that the confirmation went through without any problems.The birth date information is obtained, in part, to verify the Conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a 1-month period of time.Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows on this complaint. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests.With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return it to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry’s general custom.As a courtesy we cancelled this account on 8/13/14 as requested. There is no money due or owing on the account.Please know that we do business regularly with thousands of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and our excellent customer service.All of our contact information is in our newsletter and it contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour /7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.Feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at [redacted].Thank you.Cordially,Sylvia N. Dir. Of Subscriber Services

Review: Progressive Business Publications and [redacted] repeatedly calling my place of business demanding payment for a service not provided for a newsletter received one time. Never receiving subsequent newsletters, invoices, or any other type of billing correspondence. However, now this "company" is threatening a collection process, TODAY.Desired Settlement: A billing adjustment (if really necessary), dicarding our contact information from their database(s), and to stop contacting all [redacted] associates.

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: To Whom It May Concern

I would like to file a complaint against "Progressive Business Publications". They have been hounding me about committing to a subscription that I have no memory I ever ordering. Their collection agency "[redacted]." states that I agreed to it over the phone, although can provide no proof (ie. recording of the conversation, a signature). They keep calling and threatening to take it to the next level. A woman called, [redacted], called yesterday and again threatened legal proceeding. I had her fax me something and I told her that I would take care of it, just to get them off my back. However, after thinking about it, I don't think I should pay for something I don't remember ordering. I would like to know how I can proceed with this situation. Thank you.

[redacted] formally of [redacted]

I should also mention that the company that I worked for and supposedly ordered this for was bought and no longer exist, so they feel they can still go after me, even though I don't work for them anymore.Desired Settlement: Stop harrassing me.

Business

Response:

February 6, 2014

Dear [redacted]:

Thank you for your email of 2/3/14 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 1/30/14. After review of our detailed electronic records we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.

Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address, asking for the month and day of the person's birth and asking for the person's email address or fax so we can send written confirmation of the order within 24 hours, as well as to encourage contact with us if there are any mistakes or changes that need to be made.

Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that [redacted], A/A, placed an order on 9/20/12 for our Administrative Professional Update publication. We were provided with a birth date of [redacted], as well as an email address. Within 24 hours of the discussion, we sent a confirmation letter that clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked cancellation policy. Our records show the email went through without any problems.

The birthday information is obtained, in part, to verify the conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a 5-month period of time.

Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows on this complaint. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests. It does not show that we ever received a cancellation on this account or mail returned as "undeliverable". If we had we would have cancelled the account immediately.

With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return it to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry's general custom.

However, if neither paid nor cancelled after 5 months, 2 warning notices plus an additional 30-day wait period the account may be turned over for collection. That is what happened in this instance.

As a courtesy we did contact the collection agency on 2/3/14 and advised the agency to cease collections and cancel the account. They have assured us that will be done. There will be no ramifications due to this account being turned over for collection and there is no money due or owing on the account.

We initiated a request on the same day that the name, address and telephone number be removed from our computer files. This action takes approximately 30-days to process. In business we hesitate to say the company will never receive another mailing from us. If any company information changes our computers may not recognize it and something may go out. If that should happen, simply call us and we will remove that version, too.

Please know that we do business regularly with thousands of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and excellent customer service.

All of our contact information is in our newsletter and it contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour/7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.

Please feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at ###-###-####. Thank you.

Review: I work for [redacted] Community College in [redacted] City, Montana and I am having an issue with a company called [redacted], a subsidiary of Progressive Business Publications, and a collection company called [redacted] which is a collection company Progressive uses. [redacted] is sending me letter claiming that [redacted] owes a total of $299.95 for two subscription publications called “Students with Disabilities and Special Education Law”($164.95, invoice #[redacted]) and “Special Education Law Update”($135.00, invoice #[redacted]). The collection company has sent a final collection notice in which they threaten to report [redacted] to credit agencies and/or the appropriate state regulatory authority. The story I am getting from the collection company is that one of [redacted]’s employees, [redacted] verbally agreed to these two subscriptions over a phone call. The employee in question does not recall ever receiving such a phone call. The employee in question also has never received the supposedly subscribed to publications. The phone call agreeing to a subscription is a scam that Progressive is well known to do. They will claim that they have [redacted] saying she okays the subscription and they have her birth date. They will also claim that they have sent a certain number of the publications and they we had 30 days to cancel and since we did not cancel we owe this amount. No one at [redacted] legitimately agreed to these subscriptions. The employee they claim that subscribed to these publications works at a position that has nothing to do with educating students with disabilities, so she would never legitimately agree to subscribe to any publications dealing with students with disabilities. Her position title is: Distance Education and Community Outreach Director, which means that she is in charge of signing up and offering online classes. She is not an educator, she does no classroom teaching and she has no dealings with students with disabilities. She basically is the person who answers questions and signs people up for [redacted]’s online course offerings. These are not approved subscriptions, and the whole process is a scam. [redacted] did not agree to these subscriptions and I as the accounts payable technician for [redacted] have never received any bills for these subscriptions. We have had dealing with Progressive in the past and they were all scams and currently we do not allow anyone from [redacted] to do business with Progressive or their subsidiaries due to the scam nature of the transactions.Desired Settlement: The outcome that I desire is that Progressive Business Publications dba [redacted] and [redacted] are told to cease and desist all collection efforts. We have never received the publications in question. [redacted] does no classroom teaching and she does not teach students with disabilities therefore she would never subscribe to the publications in question. Due to these facts I want that Progressive Business Publications dba [redacted] and [redacted] to end all collection proceedings against [redacted] Community College and for Progressive to erase the invoices that were sent to collections.

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Review: [redacted] is being charged for a product that was NOT authorized and Not received. They have turned us over to a Collection Agency that is demanding payment for this company. Collection company [redacted]

Progressive Business Publications was never given permission to conduct any type of service to us.Desired Settlement: Please have them remove our Company name from their data base. We will never do business with them. These types of businesses needs to be stopped, this is a scam and a company we never want to do business with.

[redacted] is awaiting a credit stating that this company has billed [redacted] in Error!

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Review: The company will call and want to send you a "free" issue of a publication. They tell you that if you don't want the publication after the first issue, then write cancel on the invoice and mail it back and the subscription will be stopped. If you don't do this, you will have to pay the invoice. Problem is, you never see an invoice unless you ask for it and it is always after you have received more than one publication so now they tell you, you owe it. They immediately turn you over to collections and you are harassed for not paying the bill that you didn't want to begin with and they tell you it will go on your credit report. They normally talk to whoever answers the phone and sucker them into it which they don't normally even have authority to order things like that but that is the way progressive would like it. We have asked them to not call us at all but they keep calling for different publications.....accounts payable, payroll, human resources, board support etc.Desired Settlement: We would really just like the company to stop contacting us at all. We have 7 different branches and so it is hard to keep this from happening. And....we just don't want this to happen to others.

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. While the resolution is satisfactory, the business has stated the procedures in which it normally takes in mailing out materials. In this particular situation and several in the past, those ideal procedures were not necessarily followed through. It is their procedure to send out an invoice and at that point, you write cancel on the invoice and no money is due. In this situation and a few in the past, we did not receive an invoice nor late notices at all or until it was too late to cancel. I am uncertain whether this was a break down in procedure (whether on purpose or not) or a delay in the mail/fax but nevertheless, it was a vital part of the process and a big part of the problem and was not an isolated event. I appreciate the resolution and your effort to not contact us again.

Regards,

Review: On September 16, 2013, we received an invoice for $299.00 from Progressive Business Publications for a one-year subscription to Environmental Compliance Alert, which we did not order. After several telephone conversations with the customer service department of Progressive Business Publications, and continually advising them that the Village of [redacted], its official nor any of its employees, order their Environmental Compliance Alert publication or any other service from them, Progressive Businesses Publication submitted the Village of [redacted] to the [redacted]., of [redacted], NY, a collection agency. After several conversations with [redacted] and from the recommendation of the Village Attorney, on March 26, 2014 we paid the $299.00, under duress. It would have been much more expensive to have our attorney handle this issue.

On March 20, 2014, we requested through Chris Bennett, Account Manager at [redacted], that the Village of [redacted] be removed from Progressive Business Publications’ mailing list. On March 25, 2014 we received confirmation by email from Branch Manager, Cynthia T[redacted] of [redacted], that once our check was received our request to be removed from future solicitations would be processed On April 16,2014, check # [redacted] for $299.00 was made payable to Progressive Business Publication C/O [redacted]

Since April 16, 2014, we have received three more Environmental Compliance Alert publications, along with renewal notices for the same. It is obvious that our name has not been removed from their mailing lists and I have advised them we will not pay for any renewal, publications or services they provide, as we want no contact with them at all.Desired Settlement: Our desired outcome is to shed some light on the shady business practices of this company. It is obviously not worth getting an attorney involved for $299.00 and most complainants will just pay to make them go away. This is now 10 months later from the initial invoice and the issue is still not resolved. We also do not want to be contact by Progressive Business Publication by any means or for any purpose.

Business

Response:

June 12, 2014Dear [redacted] :Thank you for your email of 6/10/14 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 6/9/14. After review of our detailed electronic records, we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address, asking for the month and day of the persons birth date and asking for the persons email address or fax so we can send written confirmation of the order within 24 hours. This serves to encourage contact with us if there are any mistakes or corrections that need to be made.Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that [redacted], Admin. , placed an order on 8/27/13 for our Environmental Compliance Alert publication. He provided us with a birth date of [redacted], as well as an email address. Within 24 hours of the discussion, we sent a confirmation letter that clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked, cancellation policy. Our electronic records show that the confirmation letter went through without any problems.The birth date information is obtained, in part, to verify the conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a -month period of time.Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows in this complaint. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals and cancellation requests. It does not show that we ever received a cancellation on this account or mail returned as undeliverable. If we had we would have cancelled the account immediately.With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is write cancel on the invoice and return it to us, or advise us by any other way, and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industrys general custom. However, if neither paid nor cancelled after 5-months, 2 warning notices and an additional 30-day wait period the account may be turned over for collection. That is what happened in this instance.As a courtesy we contacted the collection agency on 6/11/14 and they advised us that they did receive payment in full ($299.50) on 4/28/14 for the subscription. They have marked this account "Settled Satisfactorily". They reinstated the account so that he will get the remaining newsletters of the 1-year subscription. Once it expires there will be no further issues, invoices or renewals sent. A "do not renew" was placed on the account. There will be no ramifications due to the account being turned over for collection. There is no money due or owing on this account.Please know that once the account is paid the issues will not stop; we must serve the issues for which we received payment. The subscription has approximately 5 months remaining.We initiated a request on 5/13/14 that the company name, address and telephone number be removed from our computer files. This action takes approximately 30-days to process. In business we hesitate to say the company will never receive another mailing from us. If the companys name is misspelled or the zip code incorrect, Our computers may not recognize it and something may go Out. If that should happen, please call us and we will remove that version too.While researching this complaint we found that this company has done business with us in the past and is aware of our cancellation policy. We found many trial subscriptions had been accepted before and were cancelled as we instructed without issue except this account.Pease know that we do business regularly with thousands of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and excellent customer service.All of our contact information is in the newsletter. It contains our address and telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour 7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.Please feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at [redacted].Thank you.Sylvia *. N[redacted] Dir. Subscriber Serv.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Review: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:

We did cancel this publication several times by phone but at this point, we feel we have spent enough time on this issue. Any additional mailings we have received from Progressive Business Publications are returned to them unopened with the word “CANCEL” written across the envelope, which have totaled three since June 9, 2014.

Review: We agreed to receive a 3 issue free subscription, that and only that. Months later an invoice appeared marked 3rd notice. We never saw the first 2 notices. We mailed the invoice back stating it should be cancelled, we did not want the subscription. Now a collection company is calling us, [redacted].Desired Settlement: For Progressive Business Publications and [redacted] to stop bothering us, to cancel said subscription, and to never ever contactl any person associated with [redacted], and any person receiving mail at [redacted]

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Review: We never received the hard copy of the report. The individual who ordered the product is no longer with the College and we cannot ask them if they received the emails. We are not responsible for the entire bill as we did not receive the hard copy information.Desired Settlement: We are not willing to pay for a product we did not receive so we are asking that the hard copy portion of the invoice be removed from the invoice.

Business

Response:

December 23, 2013

Dear [redacted]:

Thank you for your email of 12/20/13 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 12/19/13. After review of our detailed electronic records we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.

Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address, asking for the month and day of the person's birth and asking for the person's email address or fax so we can send written confirmation of the order within 24 hours, as well as to encourage contact with us if there are any mistakes or changes that need to be made.

Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that [redacted], H/R Coord, placed an order on 5/9/13 for our What's New In Benefits & Compensation publication. We were provided with a birth date of [redacted], as well as an email address. Within 2 4 hours of the discussion, we sent a confirmation letter that clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked, cancellation policy. Our records show the email went through without any problems.

The birthday information is obtained, in part, to verify the conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a 5-month period of time.

Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows on this complaint. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests. It does not show that we ever received a cancellation on this account or mail returned as "undeliverable". If we had we would have cancelled the account immediately.

With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return it to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry's general custom.

However, if neither paid nor cancelled after 5 months, 2 warning notices plus an additional 30-day wait period the account may be turned over for collection. That is what happened in this instance.

As a courtesy we did contact the collection agency on 12/23/13 and advised the agency to cease collections and cancel the account and they have assured us that they never received payment on this account, therefore there can be no refund made. There will be no ramifications due to this account being turned over for collection and there is no money due or owing on the account.

While researching this complaint we did find that this company has done business with us in the past and is aware of our cancellation policy. We found many different trial subscriptions had been accepted before; 6-paid in full accounts including a current account that has been renewed since 2010, while other accounts were cancelled as we instructed without issue.

Please know that we do business continually with thousands of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and excellent customer service.

All of our contact information is in our newsletter and it contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour/7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.

Please feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at ###-###-####. Thank you.

This company apparently sends frequent email spam (multiple times daily) under different names, such as Skillful Executive and Top Small Business Resources, with no contact information, inoperable reply-to addresses, and non-functioning unsubscribe links, but the listed postal address points to PBP. The email contact information on the PBP site, including customer service, are also unusable.

Review: I was contacted by the company via phone. I was offered a free trial subscription. I said ok. They sent the free subscription and a bill. I called back and said I did not sign up. I was informed that their policy is if I don't cancel in writing then I auto subscribe. I was not told of this before the fact. Ipaid the subscription. I am now being sent to collections.Desired Settlement: Refund my money, remove me from collections, and be shut down for poor business practices.

Business

Response:

See Attached:

Review: Progressive Business Publications is billing our company for goods and services we never asked for or received (non existent). PBR turned its bill to a fake collection agency called International [redacted]. who is constantly calling our company and insisting we pay the bill.Desired Settlement: Our company did not agree to any services or goods from PBR, nor did we receive anything from them. We want the charges dropped and for them and [redacted] to stop contacting us immediately.

Business

Response:

See Attached:

Review: Got a call from company about recieving their free newsletter. Received the first one, no interest and started throwing the rest away. Then I get a bill saying I am past the "60 day cancellation period" and I need to pay them $230.Desired Settlement: Stop requesting payment on something that I did not order.

Business

Response:

October 28, 2013

Revdex.com 1880 J.F.K. Blvd.

Ste 1300 Phila, PA 19103

RE: COMPLAINT LETTER/FILE #[redacted]

Dear [redacted]:

Thank you for your email of 10/28/13 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 10/25/13. After review of our detailed electronic records we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.

Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address and asking for the month and day of the person's birth date.

Regarding the specifics of this situation,, please note that [redacted], Agency Mgr, placed an order on 7/29/13 for our Keep Up To Date On Payroll publication and we were provided with birth date information as 10/1. Prior to ending our conversation we clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked, cancellation policy.

The birth date information is obtained, in part, to verify the conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a 3-month period of time.

Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows on this complaint. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests.

With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return it to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry's general custom.

As a courtesy we cancelled this account on 10/25/13 as they requested the same day they called. There is no money due or owing on the account.

We initiated a request on 10/28/13 that the name, address and telephone number be removed from our computer files. This action takes approximately 30-days to process. In business we hesitate to say the company will never receive another mailing from us. If any company information changes our computers may not recognize it and something may go out. If that should happen, simply call us and we will remove that version, too.

Please know that we do business continually with thousands of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and excellent customer service.

All of our contact information is in our newsletter and it contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour/7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.

Feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at ###-###-####.

Thank you.

Review: [redacted] received a fax from [redacted] advising us of an outstanding bill with Progressive Business Publications. The account number is [redacted] and the invoice number is [redacted]. The bill amount is $299.00. I contacted [redacted] who advised I would need to contact Progressive Business Publications to dispute. PBP advised that their services (it states one year subscription to IT Advisor) was ordered by one of our employees. I explained that this employee was not with the company at the time they state this was ordered and the employee had been gone for some time. PBP tried to dispute this fact and gave me the employees e-mail as verification and wanted me to verify the employees birthdate. I explained I do not have access to this information and would not give it out over the phone anyway. The employee in question was not employed by [redacted] at the time of this order, nor did he have any authorization to place orders during his time of employment. This is also not the only unsolicited bill we have received from this comany. It seems once they have an employee name they just send a bill regardless of whether an order was placed or not. To the best of my knowledge the other bills have been adjusted and not placed with a credit company. I want not only for this company to reverse the invoice mentioned here, but to stop all contact with our company.Desired Settlement: Pull the account back from [redacted] and adjust the invoice to zero. Do not contact [redacted] again.

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Review: This company continues to invoice us for services NOT rendered. This is the second time in my career here in my company where they claim they obtained approval for billing. We never approved the delivery of their newsletters AND never received them. Then they send the issue to collections. Absurd!Desired Settlement: I NEED my name removed from this company's call list!

Business

Response:

November 17, 2014Dear [redacted]:Thank you for your email of 11/17/14 regarding the above referenced agency complaint that you received on 11/14/14. After review, we would like to respond to your letter with the following detailed explanation. Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line - programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the mailing address and asking for the month and day of the person’s birth date.Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that [redacted], Payroll Spec, placed an order on 4/14/14 for Our Keep Up To Date On Payroll publication and she provided us with birth date information as [redacted]. Prior to ending the conversation we clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked cancellation policy.The birth date information is obtained, in part, to verify the conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletter and invoices over a 5-month period of time.Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests. It does not show ever receiving a cancellation request or mail returned as `undeliverable”. If we had we would have cancelled the account immediately.With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that is required is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return that to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry’s general custom. However, if neither paid nor cancelled after 5-months, 2-warning notices, plus an additional 30-day wait period the account may be turned over for collection. That is what happened in this instance.As a courtesy we contacted the collection agency on 11/17/14 and advised them to cease collection and cancel this account. They have assured us that this will be done. There will be no ramifications due to this account going for collection and there is no money due or owing on this account.While researching this complaint we did find that this company has done business with us in the past and is aware of our cancellation policy. We found many, many `risk free” subscriptions had been accepted before; 4-paid in full accounts while others were cancelled as we instructed without issue except this account. We did find 1-other account for [redacted] that shows all the information she gave us for the risk free subscription before matches the account in question.We have initiated a request on 11/17/14 that the name, address and telephone number be removed from our computer files. This action takes approximately 30-days to process. In business we hesitate to say the company will never receive another mailing from us. If any company information changes our computers may not recognize it and something may go out. If that should happen, simply call us and we will remove that version, too.Please know that we do business regularly with thousands of companies who place "repeat” orders due to their continued satisfaction and our excellent customer service.All of our contact information is in the newsletter and it contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour /7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.Please feel free to contact our Customer Service Department if you have any further questions at [redacted].Thank you.Cordially Sylvia N. Dir. Of Subscriber Services

Review: I have an outstanding invoice for a service I did not authorize or receive.Desired Settlement: billing adjustment - erase the charges

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Review: The company in questions has unethical collection practices. They trick people into their product, which is a newsletter and then they charge you for something that you never ordered in the first place. They ask for your date of birth when they speak with you and tell you that it is "just to confirm that they spoke with someone at your company" what they actually do is use this saying that with giving them your date of birth you ordered their newsletter, which is very misleading. They never tell you a price or how to cancel it and never even confirm that you want the product. When you try to contact them or question the bill there is no contact information in order to speak with someone. They have now sent the "bill" to collections at International Credit Recovery and we receive phone calls daily saying that this is going on our credit report when this is something that was never ordered to begin with.Desired Settlement: I would like Progressive Business Publications to cancel the original invoice that they tried to charge against my company unethically and state that we do not owe them any money. This newsletter was never ordered and we did not want the product. We would like it to come out of collections with International Credit Recovery and leave our company in good standings as we have always been.

Business

Response:

September 19, 2013

Dear [redacted]:

Thank you for your email of 9/19/13 regarding the above referenced complaint that you received on 9/17/13. After review of our detailed electronic records we would like to respond to your letter with the following explanation.

Please note that our primary method by which we secure orders is by telephone solicitation. In such cases, our representatives take orders with a 60-day right of cancellation to a 1-year subscription to one of our newsletters, books or on line programs. We have very stringent quality control procedures regarding our representatives making this offer. These include verifying the address, asking for the month and day of the person's birth and asking for the person's email address or fax so we can send written confirmation of the order within 24 hours, as well as to encourage contact with us if there are any mistakes or changes that need to be made.

Regarding the specifics of this situation, please note that [redacted], Fin Dir, placed an order on 7/30/12 for our CFO & Controller's Alert publication. We were provided with a birth date of [redacted], as well as an email address. Within 24 hours of the discussion, we sent a confirmation letter that clearly restated the offer discussed, including the liberal 60-day, no questions asked, cancellation policy. Our computers show that the confirmation went through without any problems.

The birthday information is obtained, in part, to verify the conversation took place. Once the order was placed, the same computer system sent the newsletters and invoices over a 5-month period of time.

Thus the goods that were ordered by [redacted] were sent to the same address that shows on this complaint. This computer system records and tracks all confirmations, invoices, on-line programs, books, periodicals sent and cancellation requests. It does not show that we ever received a cancellation on this account or mail returned as "undeliverable". If we had we would have cancelled the account immediately.

With all telephone orders placed, if the ordering person does not find the information helpful, all that needs to be done is to write CANCEL on the invoice and return it to us or advise us any other way and the subscription will be stopped with no payment required, as is the publishing industry's general custom.

However, if neither paid nor cancelled after 5 months, 2 warning notices plus an additional 30-day wait period the account may be turned over for collection. That is what happened in this instance.

As a courtesy we did contact the collection agency on 9/19/13 and advised the agency to cease collections and cancel the account. They have assured us that will be done. There will be no ramifications due to this account being turned over for collection and there is no money due or owing on the account.

We initiated a request on the same day that the company name, address and telephone number be removed from our computer files. This action takes approximately 30-days to process. In business we hesitate to say the company will never receive another mailing from us. If any company information changes our computers may not recognize it and something may go out. If that should happen, simply call us and we will remove that version, too.

While researching this complaint we did find that this company has done business with us in the past and is aware of our cancellation policy. We found 4 accounts for [redacted], herself, since 2011 and all information given matches the other accounts.

Please know that we do business continually with thousands* of companies who place repeated orders due to their continued satisfaction and excellent customer service.

All of our contact information is in our newsletter and it contains our toll free telephone number. We, also, have a 24 hour/7 days a week voice mail system due to the large amount of calls we receive daily from our coast-to-coast subscribers.

Feel free to contact the Customer Service Department if you have any questions at ###-###-####.

Thank you.

Review: While I was working in the field of health & safety I starting getting unsolicited "Safety Compliance Alert" emails from Progressive Business Publications. After several months of receiving these unsolicited emails, most were deleted immediately; I received a call from a very pushy woman from Progressive Business Publications asking me if I have been receiving their online publications and asked to verify my email address. Upon verifying my email address, name, title, and contact number, which she already had because she called me on my desk phone and asked for me by name; she proceeded to rattle off some sort of disclaimer at machine gun speed. I terminated the call and remember thinking how strange the call was, and I was amazed at how pushy the woman on the phone was.

Several months later I received a call from a women named [redacted] at [redacted] who told me in a voicemail that a strange invoice came across her desk in my name, and/or in the name of my company as she wasn’t sure (Red Flag). [redacted] stated she was confident this might be a mistake, but asked me to give her a call anyhow to clear this matter up. (2nd Red Flag) I made several attempts to contact [redacted] at [redacted] to no avail. Every time I tried to call, nobody answered the phone. (3rd Red Flag)

Over several months, periodically I would receive an occasional voicemail messages until they stopped calling and proceeded to begin calling my boss and started to pressure him stating that I owed $299.00 for the receiving the Safety Compliance Alert emails. After several minutes of conversation, my boss contacted me and stated the entire situation seemed like a scam. My boss did some internet searching at told me it seems like Progressive Business Publications and [redacted] are somehow connected; or might even be operated by the same people.

I did an internet search and found all sorts of complaints regarding [redacted] Recovery, Inc. All the characteristics of everyone’s complaints seem to mirror my own; unsolicited emails, overly push telephone calls to confirm your contact information, followed by collection calls for payment.Desired Settlement: There are too many red flags to indicate that these businesses are operating in a manner that lacks both honesty and integrity.

Business

Response:

See Attachment:

Consumer

Response:

I will accept the response provided by Progressive Business Publications, but I want to warn the Revdex.com Metro Washington division that they may want keep a close eye on Progressive Business Publications moving forward. As a former law enforcement officer, I personally feel that this business does not appear to operate with a high level of professional integrity; and from the limited amount of internet research I have done since failing victim to their recent business practices, I am not alone as many people have experienced the same problems with Progressive Business Publications that I did. I would like to thank the Revdex.com for getting involved and investigating this incident.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,